Matthew Berger
WASHINGTON, Apr 26 2010 (IPS) – The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday in its first-ever case involving genetically modified crops. The decision in this case may have a significant impact on both the future of genetically modified foods and government oversight of that and other environmental issues.
The case, Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, revolves around an herbicide-resistant alfalfa, the planting of which has been banned in the U.S. since a federal court prohibited the multinational Monsanto from selling the seeds in 2007.
That decision found that the U.S. Department of Agriculture did not do a thorough enough study of the impacts the GM alfalfa would have on human health and the environment and ordered the agency to do another env…
Dahr Jamail* – IPS/Al Jazeera
MARFA, Texas, U.S., Apr 4 2011 (IPS) – In a nuclear crisis that is becoming increasingly serious, Japan s Nuclear Safety Agency confirmed that radioactive iodine-131 in seawater samples taken near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex that was seriously damaged by the recent tsunami off the coast of Japan is 4,385 times the level permitted by law.
Airborne radiation near the plant has been measured at 4- times government limits.
Tokyo Electric Power Company, the company that operates the crippled plant, has begun releasing more than 11,000 tons of radioactive water that was used to cool the fuel rods into the ocean while it attempts to find the source of radioactive leaks. The water being released is about 100 times more ra…
STOCKHOLM / ROME, Dec 3 2021 (IPS) – In these times of COVID isolation, social distance get on the nerves of several of us and the effects may be long-lasting, even endemic. Many schoolchildren have interacted and still meet with their teachers through computer networks, while the same phenomenon applies to their contact with others. Technical devices are with an ever-increasing scope becoming an integral part of all communication, teaching, and entertainment, in short – of social interaction. When it comes to education, given all the poor and even harmful educators we are forced to encounter during our lifetime, mechanization of education might be perceived as a step…
Korea is one of the world’s top economies. Yet, behind the success, many feel alienated. Does the recent hit show Squid Game, reflect the underbelly of the society’s success? Credit: Ori Song/Unsplash
Seoul, Nov 16 2021 (IPS) – Immediately after its release, the Squid Game went viral, grabbing the attention of the world s entertainment stage. The grotesque and hyper-violent thriller has reportedly become Netflix s biggest show, the world s most-watched and the most-talked-about streaming entertainment. Is it a case of art imitating life?
The global rise of Korean entertainment is reminiscent of South Korea s rags-to-rich story. The once war-strick…